Siren's Song
by Tiggy the Hopeless Romantic
Summary: Beautiful, enchanting, and forbidden. Things you want, but you can't have. Musicalverse, work in progress.
1. Storybook

Hello, I have a little project that I have done some work on, and have decided to share it. This _is_ going to be a multi-installment piece, but I hesitate to call it a full blown chapter fic. Instead, I'm writing a story in the form of short oneshots. If that makes any sense. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, even though the oneshots do all link together as one story, and are being posted in chronological order, I want you to approach them as a reader more as oneshots.

I still don't think I'm making any sense, so let's say it this way: I missed Fiyero, and know I don't have the time or energy to work on a full length fanfic. I hope you enjoy the story, and please review!

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"One upon a time, in the Mythical Sea, a mermaid princess-"

"What's a mermaid?" asked the six year old prince, fighting off sleep and stalling the story his long-suffering nanny attempted to tell him in an effort to get him to settle down.

She smiled. "The merfolk are the people of the sea. Part human, like you and I, part Fish. Anyway, this mermaid was the Princess of the Sea, sixteen years old and beautiful-"

"Beautiful? Is this going to be a girly story?" he grumbled.

She shot him a look. "It's a story about magic, Fiyero. Now hush or you can go to sleep now and not get any story, girly or otherwise." She gave him as severe a look as she was capable of, which still wasn't very intimidating. "Now shall I continue? The Mermaid lived in a beautiful castle, had many friends, and a loving family. But she felt something was missing in her life, though she didn't know what it could be. One day she and her friends swam near the surface, to find a shipwreck. Most of the men aboard ship were able to swim to land, but one young man was injured and drowning.

The other merpeople hid, afraid of the humans, but our Mermaid swam up to him, helping him to the beach. She watched him, curiously. She had never seen a human so close before. She tended his wounds, and he revived under her care. She hid when he woke so he never saw her, but heard her lovely singing voice as she tended him.

She learned that he was the Prince of the Land, as she was the Princess of the Sea, handsome and caring. She knew she loved him, and wanted nothing more than to see him again, but couldn't as the merfolk cannot live on land.

So the Mermaid approached a Sea Witch, and asked her to change her tail into legs. The Sea Witch agreed, but asked for one thing in return: the Mermaid's beautiful voice. The Mermaid was frightened, but agreed when the Sea Witch promised her she would regain her voice once the Prince professed his love for her.

So the Mermaid arrived on land and found the Prince's castle. She was lovely and graceful, so even without her voice, the Prince found himself enjoying her presence and was drawn to her. Unfortunately, the Prince was already engaged to another young woman. Although the Mermaid was tempted to take up against her, she found the girl to be pure of heart, as well as beautiful, and the girl was very kind to her, befriending her and chatting with her even though couldn't talk back.

The night before he was to wed, he approached the Mermaid and confided in her that he didn't love his bride the way he should, but instead loved the beautiful girl with a beautiful voice who had rescued him from the sea. He assumed that his friend could not have been the girl who rescued him, as she is incapable of speech. Furthermore, the Mermaid knew the human girl loved the Prince dearly, and did not wish to harm her.

Such, the Prince married, and the Mermaid died of heartbreak, throwing herself upon the Sea, where her body dissolved into foam. She became a spirit of the Air, watching over the world with a gentle eye, blessing her Prince, his Princess and their children."

Fiyero's eyes went wide at the end of the story. He couldn't ever remember hearing a story with such a sad ending. "She died? She's not supposed to die, the prince is supposed to realize he loves her, and is supposed to marry her instead. Then she could get her pretty voice back and they could be happy!"

His nurse tucked him into his bed. "I'm afraid we don't always get a happy ending, my darling."

Fiyero pouted, even as sleep took him. "If I were the Prince in the story, I would've married the Mermaid...way the story is supposed to go..." and he drifted off to sleep, dreaming of a fantasy world under the mythical sea.


	2. Decision

"Are you out of your mind?" Glinda's eyes were like dinner plates, staring at him in horror, unable to comprehend what had just come out of her boyfriend's mouth. "This is crazy, why are doing this?"

"Because it's what I think is the right thing to do?" he offered, putting his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down. Even though she was just over five feet tall- and that was when she wore heels, she was intimidating when frustrated. "It's not a secret that school and I don't mix well, either. And it's not like you're staying here, you took the position the Wizard offered you."

"But I'm not dropping out of school and enlisting in the military!" Glinda was working herself up to a fever pitch. "This is nuts! You have no business being in the military, you're a Prince, you spend your free time partying and having fun. You could get killed! What would your father think?"

"My father was waiting to get the letter from Madame Morrible saying I'd been kicked out of Shiz. Like every other school." He scoffed, laughing without humor. "He's actually pleased, up until the Wizard came to power and established the Gale Force, the Vinkun King was also the head military figure in the West. He said he's glad to see me still getting military experience and thinks the structure will do me good."

She let out a breath with a huff. "Well I don't agree with him, I don't want to see you get killed!" Her anger crested and he could see her emotions come through. "Fiyero, I just don't want to see you get hurt... I... we lost Elphie, I have no idea where my best friend is. Every day I dread hearing the gossip, seeing the newspapers, because not only is everyone saying horribly things about her, I could find out she's dead. I don't know what I would do if I lost you, too."

He had her in his arms before the tears came, feeling her body heave as she cried. "You won't lose me, Glinda. This is just something I need to do."

She pulled back. "But joining the military? This is putting you directly opposite her. What if you have to help them capture her? What if you're there when they kill her?"

He closed his eyes against the mental image her words brought up. He was terrified something was going to happen to Elphaba, knew she wouldn't be able to last very long. "That's why I'm doing this, I want to protect her. I want to find her myself before they can."

"And what will you do, then?"

He couldn't answer her, because he didn't know the answer himself, yet.


	3. Touch

There we go, much longer chapter. Please read and review.

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He wasn't expecting it so soon. He'd only been in the Gale Force for a few weeks and had the rather unglamorous task of patrolling the woods that surrounded the Emerald City, with the rest of the recent recruits. It wasn't the heroic sort of activity young boys daydreamed about when they played at being a soldier, but it was the dull reality of it.

Then he heard the excitement: _It's the Witch! _The excited scuffle of young recruits. He found himself at the front of the pack, trying to keep himself from panicking. Glinda's words came back to him. What if he had to watch his comrades kill her? He knew he wouldn't be able to take it, he'd wind up doing something that would probably get himself killed, too.

He heard the sound of a twig snapping- he was suddenly thankful for his Vinkun boyhood, spending summers on hunting trips with his father and the other men, watching them track animals. No matter how modern the Vinkun royals seemed, they had tribal roots, something Fiyero knew his father longed for, hated seeing the old ways fade. The hunting trips had been one way in which he maintained a connection to the past. They were also about the only thing that father and sun both enjoyed.

On a whim and a prayer, Fiyero called, "The Witch, I saw her, she ran that way!" as he pointed in the opposite direction of the snapping twig. The other men followed him blindly, but he didn't run off, himself, waiting until they were out of earshot to turn, quietly.

He didn't see her at first- she'd picked her hiding spot well, her dark hair and eyes blending in to the shadows, the green of her skin bending in with the trees and grass. He felt himself panic, heard himself whisper, "Elphaba?"

She'd frozen like a frightened deer, but then had the desire to run. He was amazed at the grace she had-he'd always thought she was slightly awkward, clumsy. Perhaps it was necessity that made her agile. And surely it was necessity that let him catch up with her.

One hand firmly on her shoulder, the other gently covering her mouth, so she wouldn't scream out of surprise and ruin her cover. She bit at his palm as he turned her to face him, whispering, "Elphie, it's just me, it's just me."

He moved his hand away from her mouth, but didn't let go of her shoulder, not wanting her to run off. "You scared me, I thought.... I just saw your uniform at first."

He glanced down at the handsome green and gilded gold. He'd had pride at it at first, but felt bad for making her afraid of him. "I'm sorry, but it's still just me."

"Why did you stop me? What are you doing? You should've let me go." she tried to shrug off the hand on her shoulder but he wouldn't let go.

"I joined the military to protect you-and Glinda," he quickly amended. "I wanted to try and keep you safe.... from the inside. I wanted to try and keep you safe by joining the Gale Force myself... like now, I can throw them off your track."

A ghost of a smile. "Well, thank you. But for that to work, shouldn't you let me go, now?"

He knew the answer was yes, he should let her escape while the rest of the force was looking in the wrong direction, but another part of him dreaded her leaving. He flashed back to months before, seeing her in the Ozdust, helping her rescue the Lion Cub, saying good-bye to her at the train station. If he let go, dropped his hand to his side and let her leave, would he ever see her again? Would she even survive the night? How long before she died?

If he let her go, he would lose it all.

Not that he had anything with her, to begin with.

He let go of her shoulder, but his hand did not obediently go to his side. It skimmed up her delicate neck, resting on her cheek. He could see the confusion in her eyes, and he smiled as he leaned forward to kiss her brow, something he meant as a gesture of farewell.

The air crackled, he could hear her breath catch and for a second she was still the teenage girl she should've been. "Elphie-"

"No, don't-" she tried to protest, but she didn't move away, let her eyes shut as he came close again, close enough to kiss.

At the last second before their lips met, he jumped, hearing a scuffle behind him. Urgently, he hissed, "Go now, they're coming back."

He didn't need to tell her twice, opening her eyes, giving a sad, defiant smile goodbye, squeezing his hand. She disappeared as quickly as she had come, before the other guards came back, complaining about how they hadn't been able to find the Witch. Fiyero said nothing, not trusting himself with words.


End file.
